Eliza Larmour’s Gingersnaps

Ingredients

• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (divided 1 + 1/2)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup dark molasses
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 cups flour

Tools

• Mixer
• Medium mixing bowl
• Small mixing bowl
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups
• Rubber scraper shaped like a spoon
• Spatula
• Cookie sheets
• Cooling racks

Method

1. Set oven rack in the center position and preheat to 350 degrees F.
2. Stir the baking soda, salt cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and flour into a small mixing bowl.
3. Cream the shortening and 1 cup of the sugar together with a mixer in a medium bowl, stir in the egg and molasses.
4. Stir in the combined dry ingredients.
5. Form dough into one-inch-diameter balls and roll in the remaining sugar.
6. Place 2 to 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
7. Bake for 12 minutes.
8. Cool on cookie sheets until firm.
9. Remove carefully with spatula onto cooling racks.
10. When completely cool, store in a sealed container.

Notes

• Do not use margarine or butter as a substitution for the shortening.
• These cookies are generally good for up to a week in storage, but they probably won’t last long in storage, because people seem to really like them and they disappear rapidly.
• Approximate yield: 4 dozen cookies
• The darker the molasses the better.
• I use a portioning scoop to get a consistent size when making these cookies.  I usually fit between 12 (3 columns of 4 rows) to 20 (4 columns of 5 rows) cookies per sheet depending on the size I am making.
• The recipe can be doubled, quadrupled, octupled or otherwise multipled about as far as you want to go.